One has a car. Is it possible to convert it into a hybrid vehicle? What about converting a bicycle into an electric-powered cycle, so that it can truly substitute for fossil-fuel powered transport?

Undergraduate engineering students of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the Coimbatore campus sought answers to these questions, even as they participated in a nation-wide exhibition, ELECRAMA 2012.

Sponsored by the Ministries of Power; Commerce & Industry and Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, the student project competition at the exhibition attracted participation from 800 student teams from the IITs, NITs, other engineering colleges as well as polytechnic institutions.

Of the 800 teams, 46 made it to the final round; 5 of these were entries from the Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore.

Finally, 3 of 5 teams received special certificates of appreciation. Certificates of participation were given to the other 2 teams.

“Our low-cost conversion kit for automobiles with internal combustion engines can help them become hybrid electric vehicles,” shared H. Sivaramakrishnan, Shanoop Padmanabhan and Sabarish Balakrishnan, who received a certificate of appreciation.

“At a time when fuel prices are on the rise, and emissions are a major concern, we feel that our hybrid kit will be very useful. Hybrid vehicles available today are expensive and we wanted to make a cost effective converter kit,” they added.

The students have already tested this kit in a kinetic scooter and plan to conduct more tests.

Meanwhile, Selva Dinesh T., Rajasekar L., Moulichandru P. and Nikhil Radhakrishnan, modified an ordinary bicycle by fitting separate driving, controller and powering units to create an electric bicycle. The trio received a certificate of appreciation also.

“Our bicycle has a battery pack and an electric motor. It can run at a speed of 25km/hr. This mode can be used when one feels tired cycling,” shared the students.

Yet another team that was appreciated was that of Karthikeyan P., Nirmala A. and Nishanth R. Here the trio designed a high-power-factor electronic ballast to power a fluorescent lamp.

“Our creation is cost effective and can ensure long lamp life,” stated the students.

Two other Amrita teams which were shortlisted for the final round, put forth their effort to solve technical problems.

C.H. Raja Krishna, B. Hariharan and S. S Sriramachandiran proposed a new approach for adaptive estimation of instantaneous harmonic currents in a power system. Their algorithm was implemented using a development kit for the Net Micro framework.

Soumya S., Hridya B. and Lalitha S. designed a convertor system for micro grid applications, especially solar powered micro grids. “With proper scaling and additional features, it can be used to tap other renewable resources of energy as well,” the students informed.

The students received guidance from their faculty members including Dr. T.B Isha, Ms. Vijayakumari, Ms. Supriya, Mr. P. Sivraj, Mr. Vijith K., Mr. Prajof P. and Mr. Nithin S.

“The event was very useful for all of us who participated. It is one of the top global exhibitions and we really learned a lot,” shared the participating students.

March 3, 2012
School of Engineering, Coimbatore